Two veterans’ advocacy organizations have sued Secretary of Veterans
Affairs Eric Shinseki for failing to provide benefits to Vietnam War
veterans who served aboard ships off the coast of Vietnam. The federal
court filing claims more than a 100,000 of these Blue Water Navy
veterans were exposed to Agent Orange through their drinking water while
providing gunfire support, air support and logistic support in the
territorial seas off the coast of the Republic of Vietnam between 1962
and 1975.

The suit noted that the VA just ignored the evidence of exposure via
drinking water. them. Agent Orange take an a average of 15 years off a
life and many veterans are dying leaving their families without
benefits.

Next year, the national convention for the Vietnam Veterans of America is scheduled to be in Wichita.

Arden "Kolb" Kobler, Hays, and Larry MacIntire, Natoma, attended this
year's convention, which was last month in Jacksonville, Fla. They hope
to have more members of the Hays chapter -- which serves northwest
Kansas -- by next year's convention, and also have a town hall meeting
on the effects of Agent Orange.

The study noted veterans deployed in the Nui Dat area of
Phuoc Tuy province experienced a toxic environment because of
the widespread use Agent Orange, which contained the
carcinogen dioxin. However, the study did not have specific
data on herbicide exposure of individual soldiers.

Dr McBride said the findings were not at odds with evidence
needed for compensation from Veterans Affairs New Zealand for
ill-health caused by service in the Vietnam War.

He said the pattern of lower overall mortality was known as
the 'healthy soldier effect' which was related to the fact
the soldiers would have been selected for health and fitness.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 Million Veteran DNA Sampling
My brother-in-law is a 100% PTSD disabled Vietnam veteran. Yesterday,
he brought home a Million Veteran Program Baseline Survey from the VA.
As far as I can tell, this program is designed to collect blood for DNA samples from a million veterans. For more information about the MVP, go to www.research.va.gov/mvp .
While this information could be useful in determining which veterans
are most susceptible to the effects of certain toxic exposures on the
battlefield and military bases, there are questions to be asked about
how in the time of “sequester”, the VA can afford what must be a
multi-million dollar study and could DNA data backfire into a “blame
genetics not the exposure” scenario. Finally, how can the government
spend this kind of money on DNA sampling of a million veterans and not
be able to fund a Center to discover why veterans’ children and
grandchildren. have birth defects and disabilities?

With best regards,

Betty Betty Mekdeci Executive Director Birth Defect Research for Childrenhttp://www.birthdefects.org/ 976 Lake Baldwin Lane, Suite 104 Orlando FL 32814 407-895-0802VA Secretary stops in Waco to address backlog problems
"Today veterans including those here in Texas wait too long to
receive the benefits they earn. This has never been acceptable that's
why we put together an aggressive plan to fix what is a decades old
problem. Eliminate that backlog in 2015. Not manage it better, not
reduce it, but eliminate it," says Shinseki.

The VA says they knew backlog claims would peak this year because more vets are eligible for benefits than ever before.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has concluded presumptive exposure
to Agent Orange can cause health hazards that may be crippling and life
threatening. The Institute of Medicine reports Agent Orange can cause
serious diseases. This undermines previous statements by the Department
of Defense stating agent orange is relatively nontoxic to man, a
deliberate conclusion, therefore took no precautions to prevent exposure
as stated by the US Comptroller General, November 1979.

With that said, tactical herbicides a chemical weapon was authorized
and deliberately used causing illness and death among our troops on
land, at sea and air. This is not friendly fire, but deliberate fire by
chemical weapons use engulfing our troops.

Our Congress needs to recognize this responsible accountable action
passing a non-loophole law affording care and compensation to all
Vietnam veterans who are infected with Agent Orange dioxin poisoning.

Bean served
in the Army's 101st airborne as a war correspondent and combat photographer 43
years ago. Exposure to Agent Orange back then has taken its toll in the form of
massive health problems.

"Not
really giving up. I had just sort of lost any hope of things getting better,"
said Bean.

Keller Williams
realtor Gary Culver chose Joel Bean to be the subject of what's called Keller Williams
annual "Red Day" Project. Culver was a combat medic in Vietnam.
Caliber and
Mullarky roofing and others are donating supplies and labor to restore Joel Bean's
house. Someone even donated a vehicle. Joel hasn't been able to afford one for
years.

"There's
a whole new life. Hopefully my health will improve. And just being able to
drive the Blazer to 7-11 is a wonderful adventure for me. There's something about
not having the freedom of movement that can really break your spirit. And these people have restored it all,"
said Bean.